Chapter 19

Clark was not the only one who wound up helping Gabe and Chloe. Martha and Jonathan insisted on helping. Chloe was grateful for the help, but could not help being angry at the situation. Once again, her life was being uprooted and turned upside down because of this psycho. An everyday garden variety psycho, which she couldn’t even blame it on the meteors.

She looked around the room that Lex had chosen for her. It was, as everything Lex has, beautiful. There was a wall that held the French doors that led out to a balcony overlooking the gardens, with the remainder of the wall taken up with windows allowing the afternoon light pour into the room. The bed was the biggest bed she had ever seen, a princess bed she thought when she first saw it. The canopy was covered in dark red velvet that was pulled back on the sides with gold roping with little tassels on the ends. The comforter on the bed was also the same color as the canopy, inlaid with intricate designs in gold. There were a least five oversized pillows with several more decorative pillows in front of them. Chloe figured it will take her at least five minutes to clear them all off when she went to bed.

There was a large armoire on the wall directly across from the windows that was currently holding the clothes that she had brought with her. She had had a brief internal battle with herself about the amount of clothes, shoes, and things that she deemed essential to her survival, afraid that she would not have enough room to put everything. She laughed now, looking at the armoire that not only held all the clothing and shoes she brought, but had enough room to hide Clark as well. Hmmm, she thought, I wouldn’t mind finding him there either. She grinned at the image.

Chloe imagined that Lex choose this room for her, not because of these things, but because of the large antique desk that was on the wall facing the bed. There was a large plasma TV mounted on the wall above it, where she could watch it either sitting at the desk, or while she was in bed. But the desk was the focal point of the room. It was made of mahogany she thought, with thick legs with detailed carvings that had stood the test of time. There was a cabinet and deep drawers with wonderful brass fittings that were polished to a gleam. There was a desk blotter, a desk blotter for goodness sake, and a pen holders like at the banks, but she was pretty sure it was more like the one on the President‘s desk. She ran her hand along the top of the desk. It was polished to a glass-like sheen; she could actually see her reflection. Her beloved laptop sat in the middle of the desk, booted up and ready to go. It looked so out of place on the desk, yet it seemed to look just right at the same time. She chuckled because that made no sense at all, yet it did.

Lex had told her that if there was anything she needed, all she had to do was let him know. She felt like she was a guest staying in a 5 star hotel, but she didn’t think that she should be receiving the royalty treatment. A lot of people were having to rearrange their lives because of her, and she felt so guilty about it. That was one of the things that she had to work on. These feelings of guilt, that everything that had happened and still happening was her fault. Her mind knew that it wasn’t, but apparently her heart hadn’t gotten that particular memo. She had called her therapist after she had kicked Clark out once she had been settled. She needed to talk things out, and Dr. Shapiro had told her to call whenever she needed to. They had talked for about forty five minutes and Chloe felt better for it. Well, except for the guilt, but the doctor said that was a normal reaction that would go away in time. The fear had dwindled, even in light of what was going on, because she knew that she was safe in Smallville. She flopped on the bed and pondered on what had transpired in her life in the last twenty four hours.

She had to admit, when she saw the flowers that were delivered yesterday, she was terrified. I can’t believe it was only yesterday she thought. It seemed that it was a lifetime ago, when she realized that something was off. She wants to beat herself up for not seeing it earlier, for missing the subtle signs, but she can’t. She won’t. What’s done is done, and if this happens to be the one time her reporter’s instincts didn’t kick it, so be it. She’s going to give herself a pass on this one.

She glanced over to the overstuffed armchair that was sitting by the windows when her cell phone rang. The chair, while looking very comfortable, was currently holding her purse and her bag. She rolled over and climbed out of the bed to reach for her purse.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“So, you’re going to play this game now huh? You coward. You want me, fine, you leave my family out it you sick bastard.”

“Bitch.” She heard nothing further and had no chance to reply as he had disconnected the phone.

Shit, she thought as she stared at her phone. How the hell did he get my number? She dug through her purse for the business card the detective had given to her earlier. She called detective James and told him what had happened. As she was talking to him, she wound her way from her room to Lex’s study where she figured he would be. He was sitting behind his desk, on the phone, with his eyes closed and his hand grasping one of the blue bottles of water he loved so much. He looked like he was having about as a good of conversation as she just had with Ryan.

She hung up with the detective as she entered the study, promising to call back if Ryan called her again. The detective had told her that they would try and trace the call, but with the new dawn of cell phones, it was quite difficult to do. She knew who to go to for that particular thing to be accomplished.

Lex had heard Chloe come in while she was hanging up the phone. He quickly got off the phone with a mental note to look for a new security adviser if his current one didn’t start getting things done. He just wasn’t real happy with his performance and his excuses. He would call Bruce in a while to see who he used and if he had any recommendations. Right now, it looked like he needed to take care of Chloe.

“Settled in?” he asked.

“Yes, the room is beautiful Lex. The desk is incredible.”

Lex smiled. “I thought you might appreciate that. Gabe left for the Talon a little while ago. He got a little lost and couldn’t find your room, so he asked me to let you know.”

Sounds like dad, she thought. “Well, you did put us a little far apart. Um, Lex, I need to tell you something.”

Lex stood up and walked around the desk. He had a feeling that this was not good. For all her calm outward appearance, he could tell by her eyes that something had happened to upset her. “What happened?”

“I got a phone call from Ryan on my cell.”

Lex would have been amused to know that his first thought was the same as Chloe’s. Shit. He hesitated before moving back behind his desk. “Are you okay?”

“A little shaky and pissed off, but yeah I’m okay.”

Lex looked at her for a few seconds as if to size her up. Seeing if I’m lying to him, she thought. He seemed to believe her, because he continued to move back behind his desk.
He grabbed a pad of paper and started firing questions off at her.

“How long did the call last? What did he say? Have you called the police? I’m assuming that the call came through as restricted?”

“Ever consider a career in law enforcement Lex?” Chloe smiled at the look Lex shot at her. “Call lasted maybe a minute, probably less. He didn’t say anything at first, there was silence, but I knew it was him and mouthed off at him. He called me a bitch and hung up the phone. The call did come up restricted, but, God Lex, I never thought it would be him.”

Lex paused taking his notes. He looked up and saw Chloe look so lost. He got back up and walked around the desk again to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her to him for a hug. “It’s going to be okay Chloe. I promise. Nothing is going to happen to you, to your dad, to anyone, I swear it.”

Chloe leaned into Lex’s chest, took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “I know Lex. I did call Detective James, he said that he would try and get the call traced, but not sure that he could since it came in on my cell.”

He pulled back from Chloe and looked at her. “I can assure you that the call will be traced. If not, then any future calls will be.”

“I knew to come to you. You may want to contact the detective though and let him know.”

“I will. Now, I need to get started on this, make some calls. Why don’t you call your dad and let him know?”

Chloe’s eyes grew big with panic. “Dad’s went to Talon right? What if ...”

“He has no less than four bodyguards with him.”

“Oh. Of course he does.” she said sheepishly. “I should probably call Clark too. And Pete ...”

“Why don’t you invite them over tonight? That way everyone can be updated on everything so far and what I find today.” Lex suggested. He had another motivation for this, but thought it wise not to let Chloe know.

He could see that Chloe and Clark had finally turned a pivotal corner in their relationship. Considering what Chloe had been through and what was currently going on, Lex was worried that the budding romance may crumble under the weight. He knew that if Clark had finally come to realize what he had with Chloe, that he would be up to anything and everything that came their way.

Chloe on the other hand, was going to have trust issues for a while. Not only with men in general, but also with Clark. Time and time again the slow farmboy had hurt her, and Lex knew that Chloe, despite how much she loved Clark, would be slow to trust his feelings for her. When it came to men, Chloe always seemed to have a low opinion of herself. Clark is going to have his work cut out for him, and Lex was willing to help wherever he could.

“Lex you’re doing so much for me, I feel that I’m putting you out.” Chloe bit the bottom of her lip.

“Luthor’s don’t do anything that they don’t want to Chloe. You are not putting me out. It gives the staff something to do. I feel that I’m paying them large amounts of money to do nothing. They need to earn their keep or I’ll have to let them go. Think of it as saving jobs.”

Chloe snorted out a laugh. “Well, then. Since you put it that way.” She started to turn away to leave the room, but stopped. “Lex, I really can’t thank you enough for what you are doing for me.”

“I take care of my family Chloe.”

She looked at him and smiled. “I know.”